Welcome to the latest edition of Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat. no. 6105.0), a publication designed to help you stay informed about key labour market measures and the latest developments in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) labour statistics program. Each edition contains a summary of key labour market measures with both the latest key figures and a range of time series graphs.

WHAT'S IN THIS ISSUE?

This issue focuses on labour underutilisation, which includes unemployment, underemployment and people marginally attached to the labour force who could be considered part of the potential labour supply (including discouraged jobseekers). The fact sheets explain the main features of labour underutilisation and the measures produced, and the feature article examines the impact of economic downturns on labour underutilisation and other key labour force measures.

Fact sheet: Measures of labour underutilisation describes the ABS suite of measures for labour underutilisation; and

Feature article: Labour force characteristics during recent economic downturns uses a full range of labour force measures to form a comprehensive picture of the labour market, particularly during times of economic decline - noting how some of these measures are influenced by changes in the underlying civilian population.

Changes to Australian Labour Market Statistics: where have the tables gone?
As announced in the October issue of Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat. no. 6105.0), changes are being made from this issue on. Earlier editions of this publication contained tables which drew together a range of labour statistics from a number of ABS sources and some international comparisons from the International Labour Organisation. These tables reproduced information that is freely available from the original sources.To ensure that users have access to the most up to date sources of data and information, this publication will no longer contain data that can be found elsewhere.